2:00

in the early stages of their match on

2:03

Arthur Ashe Stadium. We already

2:05

have one of the most

2:07

packed agendas in Grand

2:09

Slam Daily history. So look, if

2:12

anything barnstorming or unexpected or newsworthy

2:14

happens in either of those two

2:16

matches, it'll be covered tomorrow,

2:18

folks. Because

2:20

trust me, we have quite enough

2:23

to get our teeth into tonight.

2:25

Matt has felt, at

2:27

various points today, would it be safe to say,

2:30

exhilarated, overwhelmed? Eel.

2:34

And yeah. And then

2:36

Fulham started playing. Yeah, and all at

2:38

sea. Yeah, it's

2:41

one of the things that I'm not sure I've

2:43

cracked about Grand Slams. Like there's so much going

2:46

on, I want to be across it all. But

2:49

if you try and be across it all, are

2:52

you across any of it? Whereas

2:54

sometimes it's nice to actually just go and

2:57

sit and watch a match. But I felt

2:59

so tied to my screen. I was like,

3:01

I need to be watching this point and

3:03

this point and this match and this match,

3:06

which is exhilarating. And I do love that

3:08

feeling. I do live for that feeling. But

3:10

it is quite overwhelming. But what a day.

3:13

What a day. I mean, speaking of exhilarating, the

3:15

three of us have just come from

3:17

Armstrong, where we were watching Jasmine Paolini

3:19

beat Bianca and Drescu in two hours

3:22

and 48 minutes, all together

3:24

in the brilliant press seats on

3:26

that stadium. And the brilliant atmosphere

3:28

on that stadium. And it

3:31

was a heck of a time, wasn't it,

3:33

David? That was every bit the match

3:35

that we hoped it'd be. It was.

3:37

And if we have figured out a way

3:39

to crack it, I think that that is

3:41

it. All of us watching

3:44

an amazing match with two of the

3:46

screens on our laps whilst doing so

3:48

watching the Radocano-Kennan match and the Alcaraz

3:51

match on the Arthur Ash Stadium Corps.

3:54

I arrived towards the latter stages

3:56

of that first set. And yeah,

3:58

it was... step

10:00

out. I mean she even had bows on her

10:02

shoes. You

10:04

know, you're making a

10:06

rod for your back aren't you by

10:09

going out wearing something like that. She needed

10:12

to deliver, but we did she. Was Ostapenko

10:14

rubbish? Well I think the

10:16

thing is like, not really. You didn't

10:18

really notice Ostapenko and that's such a

10:20

what? It wasn't an error of thets

10:22

from Ostapenko. She

10:25

just wasn't really allowed to get the

10:27

strikes in that she usually does. She's

10:29

Osaka was there with the with the

10:32

strikes. She's so often the main character

10:34

in a match Ostapenko, whether that be

10:36

for good or bad. And yet, yes

10:38

she wasn't really able to have a

10:40

say in this because Osaka's strike was

10:42

first and it was bigger and it

10:45

was better. And she served

10:47

so well today Osaka. She keeps

10:49

serving like that. She's and

10:52

I know that's a big if, it's a match for anyone. 19

10:54

winners, five unforced errors. Wow.

10:57

That competes with anyone. And not one unforced error

10:59

in the first set and only dropped one point

11:02

behind her first serve in the whole match. Yeah,

11:05

she was absolutely awesome and

11:07

I do think like when I think back

11:09

to the start of the season, some

11:12

of the better matches I saw

11:14

Osaka play were

11:16

against hitters. I

11:19

think of the one she played against

11:21

Pliskova, really great match. Garcia at the

11:23

Australian Open was a high quality match.

11:25

She was just on the wrong side

11:27

of them. She lost them. Whereas here

11:29

she's managed to keep it together for

11:32

two sets completely unphased by

11:34

anything Ostapenko was doing. She's won it and

11:36

like, yeah, it was her

11:38

first top 10 win of the year. Her first

11:40

top 10 wins since 2020, I believe. Just like

11:43

a really big deal for Osaka who

11:45

said that kind of one

11:47

of the purposes of the kit was that it was kind

11:49

of like joyous and like she

11:52

then brought that joy, like physically onto

11:54

the court, which hasn't always been a

11:56

joyous place for her as she's, as

11:58

she's kind of comeback and it

12:01

was just great to see.

12:05

It's really hard to not

12:07

just say, oh, we are so back whenever

12:09

you see Osaka playing like that. It feels

12:11

like it, but kind of with you, Catherine,

12:15

I think we might get Pauline

12:17

Osaka in a few rounds of

12:19

time, especially if they both played out like they did today. I

12:21

think the tennis they

12:24

both produced today is awesome.

12:26

I've just discovered that I think I

12:28

have a little bit of fashion

12:30

knowledge from when I was a child, because

12:33

when I saw the outfit, I thought it was

12:35

what was known as a rara skirt. Have

12:37

you ever heard of that? I have,

12:39

yeah. And I've just googled it and it's

12:41

like one of those, right? No.

12:45

Okay. I thought it was, but there we

12:47

are. That's my contribution

12:49

to the fashion conversation. Well,

12:52

look, not dissimilar, but I think

12:54

there's just nuance in the type

12:57

of frill that perhaps isn't your

12:59

area, David. Most

13:02

areas are David's, just not this

13:04

one. I'll stick to interview

13:06

areas. By the way, I

13:08

say that about Naomi Osaka and I

13:11

realise that I've

13:13

forgotten one of the amazing things that

13:16

happened today, which was Carolina

13:18

Mukova, who is Naomi Osaka's

13:20

next opponent. What a draw

13:22

that is. Hitting shot

13:24

of the tournament. Pull the competition

13:27

off already. She's hit a behind

13:29

the back lob. Yeah, if

13:31

Algaraz had hit that, it would

13:33

be, everyone would be talking

13:35

about it, wouldn't they? But I mean, look, some

13:37

people are talking about it and rightly so. And

13:39

I just think Mukova at her

13:42

best, very different to

13:44

those category of players I've just

13:46

described in terms of hitters like

13:48

Garcia, Pliskova, Ostapenko, who we've seen

13:51

Osaka play well against this year.

13:53

Mukova has an ability to diffuse

13:56

and put the ball in awkward spaces and

13:58

keep the ball low. get

14:01

Osaka moving. As

14:03

much as I'm excited about a potential Osaka Paulini,

14:06

hold the brakes, put the brakes on that

14:08

because I'm very excited about Osaka Mukuva as

14:11

well. Yeah big time. Let's

14:13

stay with the women's show

14:15

and let's stay with women's matches that

14:17

were on Armstrong today because that

14:20

was a large part of where the fun

14:22

and the stories were because the day started

14:25

with the end of Danielle Collins

14:28

grand slam career she lost 1-6, 7-5, 6-4

14:33

to countrywoman Caroline Dollarhide

14:35

who slightly bizarre match

14:37

this because Danielle Collins was so

14:40

dominant in the first set, the 6-1 first

14:42

set and yet from

14:44

early stages of the second set this

14:46

match looked like it belonged to Dollarhide.

14:49

It just always felt to me like

14:52

she was the likely winner and hearing

14:54

what an absolutely exhausted Danielle Collins had

14:56

to say in press afterwards seemed

14:59

like maybe she felt that way as well

15:01

like she was on borrowed time. She

15:03

was well short physically wasn't she?

15:06

Absolutely she was yeah and she talked about

15:09

getting heatstroke at the Olympics and being

15:12

immunocompromised for a while after that and

15:14

she said she just didn't

15:17

have the stamina today I mean even her

15:19

her voice sounded different in the

15:21

press conference really really croaky she

15:23

said and that you know when the press

15:26

conference ended and she spoke really well she

15:28

was happy to talk albeit clearly

15:31

exhausted but when the press conference ended she

15:33

took a long time to get up you

15:35

know she sort of said I'm

15:37

sorry I just I'm out I just

15:39

haven't got any energy I

15:41

haven't got anything left today yeah and she said look

15:43

the plan is to play the rest of the season

15:46

but she did raise a few

15:48

questions about that about what she would have

15:50

in the tank physically for that to be

15:52

possible I know she's she

15:54

stated she's desperate to make the WTA finals

15:56

for the first time isn't she but feels

16:00

a long way away at the moment. But

16:02

I was very impressed with Caroline Dollar-Hide.

16:06

I could use all sorts of faint

16:08

praise on her, you

16:10

know, solid, dependable, strong. But

16:13

they would all be true. Like she felt, I just

16:17

felt, I don't know, exactly as I

16:19

said, like I always felt

16:21

like she was gonna win, really. From

16:23

the early stages of the second set,

16:25

she felt the better player, the stronger

16:27

player, the more secure player. Yeah,

16:30

you called this, you really did watching it.

16:32

You said that you felt

16:34

like it was gonna go

16:36

Dollar-Hide's way. And she

16:38

did a great job of extending a lot

16:40

of rallies. There was a lot of big

16:43

hits that Collins was getting in that were

16:45

coming back and coming back in awkward places.

16:47

And her temperament was

16:49

just perfect throughout. Whereas, Collins

16:51

was, even when she was winning, you know, set

16:54

up, she seemed really stressed in that second set.

16:56

And I think probably she

16:58

knew that physically she didn't have

17:00

it. And, you know, I think

17:02

she's spoken the press about kind of not

17:04

really having a lot of thoughts about the

17:07

end of her career because of everything

17:10

that she's been going through since the Olympics

17:12

physically. Like she hasn't really been able to

17:14

like appreciate this Grand Slam as a moment

17:16

in a way, like as the end of

17:19

her Grand Slam career. It's just all been

17:21

about trying to get on court and trying

17:23

to get over, which leaves

17:25

me sad really. It's such a shame that

17:27

it feels like... Like all the momentum she

17:29

had at the start of the season. Yeah.

17:34

And she had her momentum kind of

17:36

the worst time of the year like

17:39

through the spring where there aren't any slams.

17:42

And, okay, she

17:46

brought it at the Olympics against, you

17:49

know, Shfiontek and ended up losing that match. But that

17:51

was a really good match that she played until

17:53

she got injured. But like we haven't

17:56

really seen the best Danielle Collins through

17:59

the sort of Grand Slam. slam summer, like she had

18:01

her momentum earlier in the season and yeah

18:04

like it's kind of it's kind

18:06

of unfortunate that it's kind of ended

18:08

that way. Very hard to put

18:10

a headline on Danielle Collins final season

18:12

on tour isn't it? You know she

18:15

kind of had the

18:17

the best form and run of her career

18:19

and yet also it feels like a letdown

18:21

in lots of ways. I think in the end

18:24

we will look back and think wow she

18:26

really I mean to me she had the

18:28

best year of her career I know she

18:30

reached a Grand Slam final in another one

18:32

but this is the one where she

18:35

was in our consciousness

18:37

the most and hurting

18:40

the biggest players the most well-known

18:43

players having huge matches against Viontek

18:45

beating Rebecca now you know going

18:47

toe-to-toe with Sabalenko those were great

18:50

times weren't they and I think

18:53

they will stay with me I think

18:55

we discussed around that time in

18:57

Miami and the months that followed

19:00

is this woman a threat for Grand Slam

19:02

titles this year in her final year and

19:04

it really felt like she was and

19:07

yet that form

19:09

just didn't didn't allow itself

19:12

to last or she kind of got burnt out

19:14

and she when she got to the French Open

19:16

she looked like she was a bit on fumes

19:18

you know and and I

19:20

suppose it shows just how hard it is to

19:22

sustain your highest level you know

19:24

we often talk about players that kind

19:26

of win a lot of matches without being anywhere

19:29

near their best and she was actually at her

19:31

best for a sustained period

19:33

where you end up thinking this is new

19:35

normal but well it wasn't. I should say

19:37

there was there was no ceremony there was

19:40

there was nothing at all for Danielle Collins

19:42

after this fact she could not get off

19:44

that court quickly enough and she was straight

19:46

into the press conference room I'm not sure

19:48

she even deposited her bag in the

19:50

locker room such as her speed of arriving in

19:53

press she had

19:55

tipped the tournament off that she didn't

19:57

want anything big that I there was

19:59

somebody international

40:00

event hospitality, for instance,

40:04

Riverside Social. Now

40:06

this sounds like something like AI has

40:08

concocted to tempt me. A

40:11

cocktail party on an ultra-stylish

40:13

rooftop bar with unparalleled views

40:15

of Melbourne's skyline and a

40:17

menu curated by grandmaster recorders,

40:19

the Australian-owned Los Angeles Restaurant.

40:23

Catherine's got her credit card out. I will

40:25

wait for my invites in the post

40:27

next January. Sounds good,

40:29

doesn't it? To book your

40:31

package today, visit osopentravel.com. That's

40:34

O-S-A-U-S, opentravel.com. Plus, if

40:36

you use the code TPUPGRADE at

40:38

checkout, you will be entered into

40:40

a draw for an amazing upgrade

40:42

to your trip. That's TPUPGRADE at

40:45

checkout. Full details will be in

40:47

the newsletter as always. Now,

40:51

the men's draw today. We're gonna talk about

40:53

outcrops. We're gonna talk about Cine. We're gonna

40:55

talk about the lost gen. Of

40:58

Sitzerpass, Auger, Aliassime, and Shapovalov.

41:00

I've, see what I've done

41:02

there. I've grouped their horrors together. We're

41:05

gonna talk about Art of Feast, David,

41:07

briefly. But first, we're gonna

41:09

talk about comeback man, Dan.

41:14

Dan Evans won the longest

41:16

match in US Open history

41:18

today. Five hours, 35 minutes, 6-4

41:20

in the fifth over

41:23

Karin Hashinov coming from 4-0, 15-40 down in

41:28

that fifth set. And

41:31

Solly Holman, David Law, got to

41:33

commentate on it. Over to you,

41:35

David. It was amazing. I

41:37

mean, I think I,

41:40

I'd like to think, and I actually do

41:43

think, I was the only person in

41:45

the fourth set, midway through the fourth set,

41:47

that clocked that this could end up being

41:49

the longest match in US Open history. And

41:52

you texted us about it, you WhatsApped

41:54

us, and I went, calm down, David,

41:56

it's only midway through the fourth. It's

41:59

just an excuse. used to talk about the 90s isn't it? Well

42:03

a couple of my colleagues in the Five Live Comedy

42:05

Box just genuinely wondered how

42:07

on earth I could know about the

42:10

Stefan Edberg Michael Cheng 1992 5 hour and 26 minute

42:13

epic and I said well because

42:17

I sat on the sofa for the entirety of it and

42:20

when I should have been revising for my

42:22

exams. So we got into the lost lawyers

42:25

and sure enough I was

42:27

remembering that correctly but even

42:30

then when we got into that fifth set

42:33

Evans looked so spent

42:36

and it was still just short of five hours

42:38

at that point and he lost the first four

42:40

games in about ten minutes of that set

42:43

but the whole story

42:45

of Evans against Hatchenov is quite interesting

42:47

because he has a 4-0

42:49

record before today against Hatchenov and this is

42:51

a guy you know he's ranked way below

42:53

you know he always has been ranked way

42:56

below a guy who's been a top 10

42:58

player in the past Olympic silver medalist he's

43:00

won big titles Evans now down

43:02

at 184 in the world

43:04

because of all the problems he's

43:06

had this year. He's only won

43:09

four matches all year in the

43:11

singles at Evans but it's like

43:13

he's got the kryptonite against Hatchenov

43:15

and I

43:17

couldn't remember any of their previous matches I

43:19

just knew it was 4-0. When you watched

43:21

them play you could see why he's got

43:24

that record the slice backhand Hatchenov has not

43:26

got a clue how to take that on

43:28

because he doesn't know whether to try and

43:30

heal as hard as he can he doesn't

43:32

know where to rally, he really doesn't know

43:34

where to slice it back. There was

43:37

a period of the match where he was

43:39

getting involved in slice backhand to slice backhand

43:41

exchanges with Dan Evans and it was really

43:43

making me chuckle. Yes. This

43:45

is not the way you're gonna win this match come on.

43:47

No. And so you've

43:49

got the 4-0 record against Dan

43:51

Evans is a appalling record this

43:54

year and lack of confidence just

43:56

four match wins all year but

43:59

he gets himself to 6'5", he

44:02

extricated himself from a terrible situation

44:04

in the previous game of being

44:06

40 love dance, 5-4, and he

44:09

breaks serve. Then Evans goes up,

44:11

this is first set, 6'5", 40

44:14

love, and loses his

44:17

serve, and loses five set points in that

44:19

set, and loses the set. And honestly, he

44:21

left the court, it was now in 20

44:23

minutes. I thought, how can you stomach that

44:26

after the year you've just had and come

44:28

back from this. But just bit by bit

44:30

he started to piece this comeback together, he

44:32

won the next two sets on the tiebreak

44:34

as well. Then

44:36

he goes into the fourth set and

44:39

he's irritable, he's starting to get tired,

44:41

loses that 6'4", Hashinoff comes

44:44

up with a couple of belting four-hand

44:46

winners. And then in the fifth set it

44:48

just looks so over, so over

44:50

at 4'11 and 15'40 as well. But he found

44:52

something and it

44:57

just shows the scoring system, what genius

44:59

it is, because it only took one

45:02

break of serve, one of the two, and then

45:04

suddenly the other guy looks tired,

45:06

and Evans looks like he's just

45:09

jumping out of his shoes, he's

45:11

got so much adrenaline and energy

45:13

suddenly, and he just roars back.

45:15

The crowd, an American crowd, are

45:18

cheering, let's go Danny. And I'm

45:20

thinking, he's never been called Danny

45:22

in his life, but suddenly he's

45:24

Danny, Danny from America. There

45:27

were a couple of

45:29

people in Aston Villa shirts down at the front, it

45:31

wasn't all American. Yeah, I was trying to

45:33

overlook that. Today we can allow that. Well,

45:36

but anyway. It's

45:40

the nearest court to the

45:42

press centre, Court 6. But

45:45

it's not that near. You've got

45:47

to walk through

45:50

quite a lot of the under

45:52

passages of the Arthur Ashe Stadium. And

45:54

through a lot of very heavy

45:56

doors, quite a lot of brick

45:59

and concrete. And yet the

46:01

crowd were providing us with a spoiler

46:03

that I was like totally fine with

46:05

because it was awesome We could hear

46:07

the crowd Being able to hear the

46:09

crowd, like it was amazing From the

46:11

bow, the indoor bowels of Arthur

46:14

Ashe Stadium quite a way away,

46:16

it was unreal And I think there

46:18

is a lot of goodwill

46:21

towards Dan Evans at the

46:23

moment Given the fact that

46:25

he opted to play the

46:27

Olympics for himself but

46:29

also for Andy Murray Rather

46:32

than defend his Washington title And

46:34

I know he said that wasn't a decision,

46:36

it was just something that he knew he

46:38

wanted to do And I don't think he

46:40

wants to take much credit for that But

46:43

I do think that's a story that's resonated

46:46

But also you get a

46:48

match like that on court six And the

46:51

crowd just decides who they

46:54

like, who resonates with them

46:56

And Dan Evans'

46:58

tennis won over

47:01

that crowd Like his brand,

47:03

his slice backhand and his

47:05

swashbuckling play was a

47:08

lot more riveting for them than

47:10

the tennis Hatch nov was playing and he had, I

47:13

think I'd say 98%, 99% of the crowd with him And

47:17

it was awesome that he then

47:19

managed to get over the line And

47:22

I suddenly realised, I've been watching Dan

47:24

Evans win a lot of crazy matches

47:26

in the last few weeks And I've

47:28

been seeing them through such an Andy

47:30

Murray lens because of all their doubles

47:32

together Like they felt so in Andy

47:34

Murray's image those matches and of course

47:36

they were He's defined himself with those

47:38

improbable wins But like Dan Evans has

47:42

kept that going here I've now

47:44

seen Dan Evans win so

47:46

many matches this year that he kind of

47:48

had absolutely no right to win And like

47:52

for a guy... He's got the heart that Andy Murray's

47:54

got, hasn't he? Totally, totally It's why

47:56

they were such perfect doubles

47:58

partners, why it was the perfect kind of win for

48:00

Andy Murray to end his career. Win

48:02

of his life? Win of his life, I

48:04

was going to say exactly that. This

48:06

is what he'll be telling his grandkids about one

48:09

day. In a year which has been so hard

48:11

for him, and Dan Evans, a

48:13

guy who didn't use to get

48:18

the most out of his career, has now...

48:22

It's kind of cool that he's now the

48:24

guy who's won the longest US Open match

48:26

in history, a match defined by just

48:29

leaving every last ounce of

48:32

energy and pouring

48:34

his whole self and giving all of himself

48:37

to a tennis match, because that is who

48:39

he has been the last five or six

48:41

years. Do you think Andy Murray was allowed

48:44

to watch it while on a family holiday?

48:46

Possibly the first family holiday of his life.

48:50

I think Andy Murray, allowed to watch it

48:52

or not, was watching it. Andy

48:55

Murray was prepared to be in trouble. He

48:57

had a secret phone on the gun. He

48:59

might have had you in his ear, David.

49:02

That's the slightest way to

49:05

follow tennis, isn't it? One little earbud in. There's

49:09

something about Dan Evans. He has some

49:12

indefinable quality that gets

49:15

people to care about

49:17

him. My whole family, I

49:19

know he's from Solly Hall, but that's not what

49:21

it was about. There's something about him. My

49:24

wife doesn't really watch much tennis. She's watching it

49:26

and it's midnight at home and I know she's

49:28

jet lagged because she's just gone home from here.

49:30

But even so, she's up and she's jumping around

49:32

the lounge and my kids are up and they're

49:35

supposed to have been in bed two hours ago

49:37

because it's Dan. That's

49:40

just what happens. Yeah, he's rebranded.

49:45

He's got Mariano Navone next, which in theory

49:47

is a decent draw, I think. Whether

49:50

he's human

49:52

enough to actually

49:54

play tennis in two days' time, I don't

49:56

know. It's such a brutal

49:59

song. isn't it? He said

50:01

I won't be practicing tomorrow. You

50:05

know footballers...

50:08

Don't know they're born! They

50:11

have to have it like you know you

50:13

can't play Thursday

50:15

Saturday in football it's

50:18

just not allowed. Certainly not a

50:20

mid-day kickoff on Saturday, outrageous. And

50:22

then Dan Evans after five and

50:24

a half hours is having to

50:26

come back and it's just so

50:28

so brutal. Yep. We

50:31

love it. Truth. Carlos

50:33

Alcaraz needed four sets tonight to

50:35

beat Lee Two who

50:38

I hope to see more of. He was

50:40

fun times. In fact Carlos Alcaraz hopes to

50:42

see more of in years to come. Keep

50:44

track of his results from here on. Didn't

50:47

know anything about him but I'm gonna follow

50:49

with interest from now on. And he

50:51

is a good time isn't he Lee Two?

50:53

He took it to Carlos Alcaraz, he did

50:55

a bit of Carlos

50:58

Alcaraz back to Alcaraz both in

51:00

terms of you know

51:02

some trick shottery and some finger-to-the-ear

51:04

stuff to the crowd. Good

51:07

on him it was really fun. Yeah

51:09

he was a he was a fun time

51:11

and he's got some skill he's a single-handed

51:14

backhand he's he really

51:18

catches the eye out there. One

51:22

of the big things about watching Alcaraz

51:24

is the eye is always drawn to

51:26

him but it takes

51:28

something to take it away from him and that's

51:30

what this chap was doing. Great

51:32

looking single-handed backhand. I don't know how

51:35

good it is technically there are better

51:37

minds than minor that will be able

51:39

to tell you that but he's got

51:41

invention his imagination he was hitting drop

51:44

shots and as you say celebrating like

51:46

he really enjoys the stage and so

51:49

the question will be well how do you

51:51

build on this and do something else with

51:53

it and I'm like Alcaraz I'll

51:55

be looking out for his results. Yeah

51:58

absolutely he's onto the ESPN

52:00

set after a loss. That's

52:04

a main character energy, isn't it? I love

52:06

that from him. Yannick Sinner,

52:09

also a winner today, that

52:12

was an accident. I enjoyed it. It

52:14

worked. It was a very

52:16

kind of quarantine, mutté, French Open-esque match

52:18

as kind of the second

52:20

the word upset left anybody's lips. The

52:24

match totally turned on his head and Sinner

52:26

barely dropped a game from

52:29

that point onwards. There was a lot of, well

52:31

not a lot of, but there was some

52:33

chatter about him maybe having been booed as

52:36

he walked onto court. I

52:38

mean there might have been a smattering. I

52:40

certainly think the reception was maybe a bit

52:42

more muted than it might have

52:44

been had there not been the events of the

52:46

last week. But I think

52:48

reports of booing have been a bit exaggerated.

52:50

I think so too. And I think it's

52:53

also quite possible that people might do it

52:55

as a bit of a joke or something

52:57

like that. We've seen it with Djokovic

53:00

on a bit of a wind up, Wimbledon.

53:03

But I wasn't out there in

53:05

the stadium. I couldn't speak to it. I was only

53:07

in the commentary box there. But

53:09

he's still a bit self-conscious,

53:12

isn't he? We heard him talking the

53:14

press comments. He knows there are some

53:17

views out there amongst the players that

53:21

are a little anti him or at least anti

53:23

the process at the moment. And

53:25

some of those views are commentating

53:27

alongside his coach this week on

53:29

ESPN. I mean Nick Kyrgios has

53:31

been very, very loud about it

53:33

and pretty

53:36

extraordinarily direct

53:39

and blunt. And I'm surprised

53:42

that he is saying what he's

53:44

saying. And misleading in some cases.

53:46

He's been community noted twice on

53:49

Twitter. Yeah. Yeah.

53:52

Yeah. Pretty extraordinary, really. I mean, he was

53:54

interviewing Al Kharaz on the court after

53:57

the match this evening. Things

54:00

got a bit messy for Daniel

54:02

Medvedev before he straightened things out

54:04

against Dusan Lajevic. There was

54:07

a round the net post return

54:09

winner for Medvedev, which should

54:11

be extraordinary, but it's kind of like, boy, if

54:13

you're standing all the way back there, the

54:18

round the net post shot sort

54:20

of is quite available to you, isn't it?

54:22

Because of the bizarre

54:24

angles. Go round the blowing up post, yeah,

54:26

if you go back any further. Yeah, he's the

54:28

only one who physically can hit

54:31

it because he's the only one standing back there.

54:33

It's like his signature shot. I have seen him

54:35

do it before. He looked

54:37

very dishevelled, which, as we know, is

54:39

always a good thing for Daniel Medvedev,

54:41

playing in the heat of the day.

54:44

He's always at his most dishevelled here, isn't

54:46

he? Yeah. End of the

54:48

year, steamy conditions, crowd winding him up.

54:52

I actually thought, by and large, he was pretty good

54:54

today. I know we're kind of looking

54:56

for people that are going to beat Medvedev in

54:58

this draw because we're so unconvinced by his form.

55:02

And that's how you end up with Felix or Jay Ali,

55:04

a seam in the quarterfinals. Well, you've moved

55:06

me along nicely to my little

55:08

grouping here of results. And

55:11

maybe I'm being unfair on Stefanos Sitsopas because

55:13

his match against the

55:15

Nazi Kochenakis was a lot

55:17

more competitive than the others

55:19

in his group. But it was

55:22

nonetheless a defeat, a four-set

55:24

defeat to Kochenakis. He's had some good

55:26

grandson results this season, actually,

55:28

and is in a section of the draw

55:30

that's opening up. And look, I know Sitsopas

55:33

has never had any dividends

55:35

here in New York. He's never been past the third

55:37

round here. And I think he's only got to the

55:39

third round once. It's appalling,

55:41

really, isn't there? But still,

55:44

it's another defeat. It's another

55:47

marker, I think, of his increasing tennis

55:49

irrelevance at the very top of the

55:51

game. And look, I think

55:53

the same can be said of Felix or Jay Ali, a

55:55

seam who's beaten handily today by

55:57

Jakob Menzick. It was a whole Garunas.

56:00

school line from Felix Roger earlier

56:02

scene. It was it was pretty

56:04

limp from him and. Still

56:08

not quite as limp as Dennis Chapa

56:10

Valov's defeat to Burtik Banders Anschl today.

56:12

I mean that was a. Hideous

56:16

scene really for someone is talented is a

56:19

Chapa Valov and he

56:21

went back five years and

56:23

told me told not all these not all these

56:27

defeats are equal and not all these players

56:29

are in the. In

56:31

the same place in their games or

56:34

their careers, but exactly that David, if

56:36

you went back five years and cited

56:39

these results in this level

56:41

of relevance for these players, you'd

56:43

be saying you'd be so shocked.

56:45

You'd be saying, imagine how good these are going to be. That's

56:47

what we were saying. Imagine in

56:49

five years time how good these guys are

56:52

going to be and they're

56:55

all worse. Yeah, I mean, I think the

56:57

most shocking one today to me was or

57:00

Jali a seam. But

57:02

that's because his results have actually

57:05

been better in the last few months. You

57:07

know Madrid final he played for the

57:09

bronze medal at the Olympics. He

57:12

showed some good form on the hard

57:14

courts like I really did think that

57:17

he was starting to build not

57:19

not in the level

57:21

that we thought that he would be

57:23

as you said five years ago. He's

57:26

not at that level, but I really did think

57:28

that he was starting

57:30

to return to a lot better form. He just got

57:32

absolutely blown away by. OK, another

57:34

very talented young player, Jakob Mensik, who I

57:36

think earlier on in

57:39

the season started having some really good results has been a

57:41

bit quieter recently and. That's

57:43

why I didn't really. Consider

57:46

that men sit would win this because I just thought

57:48

their form recently has been so different, so

57:51

I think that's why that was result

57:53

is shocking to me, but that's also why I

57:55

suppose that cut always really seem a bit more

57:57

slack like he has been. performing

58:01

pretty well over the last few months. This is

58:03

a shocker and his grand slam record recently is

58:05

is a shocker as well. But that's

58:07

having already adjusted downwards what we

58:10

consider performing very well for Felix

58:12

Orgelia's team. That

58:14

is adjusted downwards significantly

58:17

on what we expect,

58:20

the benchmark we expected to be judging him

58:23

by five years ago. For sure and I

58:25

do think that you

58:28

two were actually way

58:30

more ahead of this than I was and then a

58:32

lot of people were. I

58:34

think the expectations of Felix Orgelia's

58:36

team were overinflated.

58:39

The game is not as good

58:41

as the expectations. He

58:44

is limited and he

58:46

had incredible junior results so everyone got very

58:48

excited and personally for me he's like he's

58:51

like the first amazing junior that I

58:54

remember. So I've always got that sort of

58:57

in the back of my mind. I

58:59

think some of the ATP players joke, don't they? They

59:01

call him the chosen one, the special one. Because

59:04

he was so ahead of the curve but

59:06

like actually when you look at the

59:08

game there are some big

59:10

limitations there and he

59:13

doesn't have the game of a multiple

59:15

grand slam champion in my opinion.

59:18

I think that was probably always

59:20

perhaps a little bit absurd.

59:22

I think Sitsopas has got a

59:26

game that, OK, now looks

59:28

like it has a lot of weaknesses still.

59:31

The return of serve, the backhand, the lack

59:34

of dexterity on the chip and all

59:36

that kind of thing but he's also

59:38

got amazing weapons and athleticism

59:41

that he can use, especially on clay and

59:43

I do think that game could

59:45

be good enough to be absolutely competing for

59:47

grand slam titles and that

59:50

sort of drop-off has

59:52

been really alarming. I think the

59:54

Orgelia scene drop-off has been big

59:56

but it's mostly been in relation to a kind

59:59

of... I've

1:10:00

never minded it, as long as it's by

1:10:02

brommies. Okay, David

1:10:04

and Hasana. They

1:10:06

have three cats who

1:10:09

are all tennis podcast fans. No!

1:10:12

Animals being friends. Well let's assume they're friends,

1:10:14

unless we've been told any different. No?

1:10:18

They're friends. They're friends. Great.

1:10:21

Do we know anything else? We

1:10:23

don't. No. Lovely.

1:10:26

Hello, Hasana and David. Thank you very

1:10:28

much. They are friends. Yes.

1:10:31

So they know part two of the

1:10:33

Connecticut story. That's true. Yeah.

1:10:36

And then we will also have

1:10:38

a shout out today from Sebastian

1:10:40

for his friend Dominica. Oh.

1:10:44

Oh, that's kind. Sebastian. Good

1:10:46

work. Like Dominica Sibylkova.

1:10:49

Yeah. Exactly like that. And like

1:10:51

Sebastian Grosjean. And Ofna. Yes.

1:10:55

Korda. He won today. He did. He

1:10:58

beat Korda. He beat Koryntamute. So he's in my bad

1:11:00

books. Do we know anything about Dominica?

1:11:03

We do. We know that

1:11:05

Dominica, we know lots actually.

1:11:07

A Lewis Hamilton fan,

1:11:10

a Beyonce stan, had on

1:11:12

shoes before they were cool.

1:11:15

Enjoys taking walks in the park. We

1:11:19

know so much and she's a

1:11:21

big Igersfjordtek fan as well.

1:11:24

Lovely. Good day for Dominica all round.

1:11:26

And this is a surprise shout out Dominica.

1:11:28

Oh. Hey. And

1:11:31

Sebastian has signed her up for a shout out. Good work,

1:11:33

Sebastian. That is incredibly lovely. That's a lovely

1:11:35

thing you've done, Sebastian. And I

1:11:37

hope we didn't let you down, Dominica. Thank you.

1:11:40

Thank you to all of our friends

1:11:42

of the tennis podcast. We hope you

1:11:44

enjoyed this podcast and part two of

1:11:47

the Connecticut anecdote. We'll be back with

1:11:49

day three of the US Open tomorrow.

1:11:51

We can't wait. Bye.

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